Easily invoke & show the data from services using simple Drag & Drop and other gestures

Automatic client side Paging

Automatic client side Data Management

Automatic Input & Output Form Generation

Automatic Master-Detail view generation

Whole of this workflow can be categorized into 4 important steps. They are:

1. Connect to Data/Service

In this step, user is supposed to Import existing service by providing File path (for ColdFusion/PHP) or URL (for HTTPService/WebService) or Destination name (for BlazeDS/LCDS) to the service or generate a new service (for ColdFusion/PHP only). This step can be done using “Data->Connect to Data/Service” menu item.

2. Explore Service

Once the service is imported or created, all the available functions/methods along with its signatures from your backend service would appear in “Data/Services” panel inside Flash Builder.

3. Configure Return Type

In most of the cases, Flash Builder automatically identifies the data type of input arguments and return type of the operations by introspecting your server code & metadata. But, in some cases, Flash Builder would need to invoke the operation, introspect the output returned by the operation and create client-side ActionScript VOs if required.

4. Bind Components to Data

Once Flash Builder knows the Input argument types or Return types of the operation, you can start binding the output returned by these operations to UI elements like DataGrid, List, Button, ComboBox, Form, Charts etc..

Over the next few days, I will be explaining in detail about each of these wizards and backend specific workflows to make your life exciting with DCD.

Hi there, I'm Srinivas Annam, a Tech Savvy living in Bangalore, India. I'm a RIA lover in general and I like Flash, Flex, AIR & UI designing in particular. I'm working as Lead Software Engineer in Flex development team at Adobe, Bangalore.